A Justice in Full

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. has served on the US Supreme Court for 20 years, but has never gotten the attention—or credit—he deserves. Alito was nominated to the Court by President George W. Bush in 2005 to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of the moderate Sandra Day O’Connor, after Bush initially selected Harriet Miers, his little-known White House counsel, for the slot. (Miers was quickly forced to withdraw due to broad-based opposition over her lack of qualifications.) By then selecting Alito, a 15-year veteran on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Bush 43 did the nation a huge favor. Not only was Alito a vast improvement over Miers, his nomination also atoned for Bush 41’s disastrous appointment of David Souter, who proved over the course of his 19 years on the Court to be a closet liberal. Not Alito, who has been a conservative stalwart on the Court for two decades.